Double Weasley Trouble
by yellowpygmypuffs
Summary: After the Yule Ball, Hermione and Angelina confide in each other about how disastrous the evening was.


_December 26, 1994_

The night had been a complete and utter disaster. If Ron Weasley wouldn't have been such a thick git, perhaps Hermione would have enjoyed the Yule Ball. Instead, he was thick as ever and ruined her night. Hermione thought that the Yule Ball would have been the night of her dreams. She envisioned it to be a fun night with her two best mates, where she could let loose and relax from school for a little bit. Yet, here she was, a wreck after a row with Ronald at the ball. After their fight, the night had ended with quickly telling Viktor that she had had a lovely evening but was starting to feel ill, so she had to bid him goodnight.

For several hours, Hermione was curled up in her dormitory, crying into her pillow. When she realized that she had fallen asleep in her gown and make-up, she changed into pajamas and performed a cleansing charm on her face to vanish her make-up. Hermione drug herself out of the dormitory, descending the stairs to the common room. She threw her body down in a recliner near the fire place and glanced up at the clock on the mantel. Three in the morning… great.

"What's got you down, Granger?" A voice questioned. Hermione sat up, alarmed.

"Oh, Angelina. Hi. I certainly didn't think anyone would be down here." Hermione pulled at her jumper.

"Couldn't sleep. How was the ball?" Angelina Johnson asked the fourth-year.

"Angelina, it was simply horrendous," She moves to the couch to sit next to the sixth-year. "Ronald and I had a row and it completely ruined my entire evening." She dropped her face into her hands.

"But you went with Viktor Krum. Why on Earth would you be fighting with Ron?" Angelina asked.

"Because. Can't you see? Can't anyone see? I wanted to go with Ron tonight but he was too much of a prat to ask me." Hermione sighed, throwing her head back on the sofa.

"Oh. I see. So you told him he was being stupid?"

"Something like that," she whined. "I definitely wasn't graceful or gentle with my words. Merlin, I feel like a bloody idiot."

Angelina was shocked to hear such words coming from Hermione Granger.

"Hermione, don't say that. You're such a smart girl. If anyone is an idiot in this situation it would most definitely be Ron." Angelina affirmed her friend.

"Thanks, Ange. So why are you down here so late?"

"Now that you mention it, I might be having a bit of my own trouble with a Weasley boy. Well, two Weasley boys." Angelina said while brushing her hair behind her ear.

"What happened? It looked like you had a splendid time at the ball with Fred."

"I did," she sighs. "I mean… well. Okay so here's the thing…" She pauses to compose herself for a second. "I think Fred might fancy me. Which is fine, except for the fact that I don't think I fancy him as well," she finally gets out.

"Well, then why do you have a problem with both of them? Is George taking the mickey out of you two?"

"Yes, in fact, he is doing that…" She takes a deep breath. "Please don't judge me Hermione. I know this sounds awful."

"It's okay, Angelina. I swear," she says, fully attentive to whatever the sixth-year has to say.

"Okay- here it is. I fancy George Weasley," she says. Hermione's jaw drops and she covers her mouth with both hands, eyes wide.

"But you went with Fred. Why did you go with Fred of you fancy George?" Hermione asks quickly.

"Because I'm daft. Katie and Oliver were pairing off, Lee and Alicia were going together. So within our friend group I knew one of the twins was going to ask me. I'm honestly not sure why Fred did and not George, but it happened and I was okay with it. I figured it would just be easiest for the group dynamic to just accept Fred's proposal. I also didn't want to turn him down to go with his twin. It was just a sticky situation all around and I just went with the easiest way out," Angelina explained.

Hermione leans in, "So what are you going to do? You and Fred aren't dating, are you?"

"I don't think so. He asked me to go with him to Zonko's next Hogsmeade trip, but we would be doing that anyway, and he wasn't clear on if George and Lee were coming or not," Angelina explains, distress evident in her voice.

"How long have you liked George?" Hermione inquires.

Angelina pauses, taking this question in. She had fancied George since first year. She had always been able to keep the twins apart, immediately noticing the subtle differences between them. She had been in on many of the boys plots and pranks over the last six years, and she had noticed her fondness for George as early as Halloween-time of her first year. She remembered the exact instant in which she had fallen for him.

Late October of their first year was Angelina's twelfth birthday. Angelina had been having a rough time adjusting to the fact that she wasn't able to spend her birthday with her parents. She had confided in her new friends that she was feeling kind of gloomy, and hadn't wanted to participate in any of the Halloween festivities around Hogwarts, since her birthday had always gotten covered up by the holiday, and she wasn't going to enjoy her day without her parents there. George gathered whatever money he had, and called upon the help of his older brother, Charlie (a sixth-year) at the time, to get Angelina sweets and a birthday card while on his Hogsmeade trip. Angelina remembers this particular gesture as being very kind and noble, noticing her new best friend in a different light. From that moment on, Fred and George became two separate people in her mind. Fred was the out-going, loud, extroverted quidditch player with an agenda. And George… well, George had become the person she trusted most. She learned his more sensitive side when he wasn't playing pranks with Fred, and she saw the kind and thoughtful parts of him that no one else really did.

"It was my twelfth birthday," she tells Hermione. "He had done something really sweet for me, made me feel special when I was feeling down. He showed a caring side very early on and I kind of fell for it," Angelina explains.

"So why haven't you done anything about it over these last few years?" Hermione asked.

"I couldn't. I became both of their mates, just one of the quidditch guys. Being chaser isn't necessarily the most feminine thing, and I just felt awkward trying to be flirty with him. It's also dead hard to flirt with your friend when you have Lee Jordan cat-calling you every five minutes," she rolled her eyes thinking about her friends antics.

"Angelina, you have to do something. You can't let Fred get too invested in a potential relationship with you if you're going to be wishing it was his twin."

Angelina sighs, "That's the thing, Hermione. I don't want people to think that I'm just with a different version of Fred if I end up going with George. I don't want to be seen as that girl that dates _both_ twins."

"You aren't dating Fred, though. Certainly people will see that. And in ten years it's not like it's going to matter who you went to the ball with your sixth-year of Hogwarts," she tried to reason.

"I guess you're right. I think I'm going to talk to Fred. Just to let him know, while I did have a lovely time with him at the ball, I don't wish to be more than just his best mate. I love Fred dearly, I really do. But I need that relationship to stay as is. Close as mates, not as any type of potential teenage lovers," Angelina stretches out her arms and back from her seated position. "So what are you going to do about Ronald? I could always ask one of the twins to talk some sense into him," Angelina nudges her.

"I honestly have no idea. I really do fancy Ron, but I'm too infuriated to even talk to him right now."

"I understand, what he did was out of line. To pick up an attitude with you after he ruined your time with Viktor by being a prat. Unacceptable, really," Angelina says.

Hermione giggles, "I'm sure I wasn't quite pleasant, either. I think I'm going to keep him at arms distance for a few days. Let him work out his teenage angst and what-not. Maybe he'll come around," she says, and then pauses. "Actually, he is really thick. Maybe he won't pluck up the courage to talk to me."

"I'm sure he will come around. Those Weasley boys are stubborn, but they certainly do care whole-heartedly about their friends. None of them would intentionally harm a friendship. They are good guys, and from what I'm learning, Ginny is also a really sweet girl." Angelina says sincerely.

"They are wonderful. Daft, stupid, thick, smelly, oafs of teenage boys… but they are also charming and funny. And kind when they need to be." Hermione smiles, knowing she wouldn't want Ronald to be any other way.

"I agree," Angelina says, smiling warmly after. "Come on, Hermione. Let's get to bed. We can deal with our Weasley boy dilemas some other evening." She stands and offered Hermione a hand. They stand together.

"Thanks, Angelina. I really appreciate it. I needed to talk about Ron for a little while." Hermione hadn't spoken to Angelina much over the last four years, but she had a feeling that they had the potential to bond over their Weasley drama. Hermione didn't really have any close girlfriends to confide into about boys, but she thinks she just found one.

"Any time, dear. Here," she hugs Hermione and then holds Hermiones shoulders at arms length away from her, "Come talk to be anytime Ron screws up. I know some men that would gladly put him in his place. And I would, too, just so we're clear."

Hermione nods and follows Angelina upstairs and part at their respective dorms. They both fall sleep with images of lanky ginger boys dancing in their dreams.


End file.
